Authenticity is extremely important to many consumers, especially the largest consumer segment today, Millennials. This group of 30-somethings is not spending time on Facebook or swayed by PPC ads. If your marketing team can tap into community platforms like Reddit, it can be a great way to make connections and lifelong customers.
Know the Platform
Reddit, Quora, and Twitch are all very different. Reddit is divided into communities called subreddits, which are as diverse as the 5 billion internet users, from makeup to video games. Quora is a “Q&A” platform where users post questions and community members post thorough answers—you’ve likely seen Quora pages in the SERPs when Googling a question. Twitch is completely different from the other two as a live stream platform that started as a gaming platform. All three provide opportunities for marketers to do research, connect with their target market, and make the sale.
Be an Active Member, Not a Marketer
No matter which platform you choose, the number one rule is to be an active member, not a marketer. Some of these platforms will ban members strictly posting advertisements, so it’s essential to genuinely join the community, respond to questions without a sales pitch, and work in your marketing naturally after developing a rapport.
Reddit
Reddit can be a wonderful tool for marketing and advertising, but be warned: Reddit users can smell an ad from a mile away and your posts will be endlessly “downvoted”. While you can invest in PPC Reddit advertising, getting involved with the community and truly making connections is a more authentic and ethical way to market—and it’s much more effective. Find a subreddit in your niche, respond to posts looking for advice, post high quality content with NO links or mention of your brand, and build connections with regular members. After weeks or even months of getting involved, then you can start naturally working in mentions of your brand naturally. For example, in a response to a member seeking out a product like yours.
Quora
Quora is a question and answer platform divided up into many niche topics. It’s community-oriented like Reddit, but all posts are in the Q&A format, so you can see why it would be a great opportunity for a marketer to provide branded guidance in an answer. The same guidelines hold true: provide genuine content and become part of the community before working in your marketing. Another unique feature of Quora is that the questions mirror common search terms on Google, so it’s a wonderful way to get your answer to a question (including a link to your website) visible on the SERPs and therefore, a source of organic traffic.
Twitch
The marketer’s approach to Twitch is a bit different from Reddit and Quora. Like these other platforms, it’s a community, but the content is 100% live stream and discussion. It’s possible that this is the trickiest platform to get involved in because of the real time conversation and live streaming aspects. A better way to utilize Twitch is to partner with Twitch influencers who can broadcast a sponsored live stream featuring your product.
Need help?
Getting involved in community marketing is possibly one of the most difficult forms of marketing because it involves building genuine connections over time so your pitch is natural. Let us help! We’ll get to know your brand in and out and build a community around it.
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